This Imperial India Pale Ale rocks…hardcore! But don’t take our word for it...this little bottle has a grandiloquent story to tell.

2,204 malted Maris Otter grains gave all they had to offer the world to provide the robustly delicate toffee malt canvas for the ensuing epic. 4 Hop Cones willingly sacrificed themselves to ensure your mouth feels punished and puckering for more. 9,900,000,000 yeast cells frantically fermented their little hearts out as the sugars became alcohol in the depths of our fermentation tanks.

2 humans and 1 canine companion were relatively happy with the results.

Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Pours a hazy orange-ish to copper color with a light tan head. In the aroma, orange citrus and alcohol. In the taste, dry hops, starts with pine to an orange citrus, quite malty and a hint of sticky alcohol. A small bite and medium bodied mouthfeel, with a dry, small orange citrus hop in the aftertaste. Big and hoppy, and balanced and boozy.

T: Tastes pretty much exactly like the smell - very well balanced between the malts and hops. Sweet butterscotch & caramel with a kiss of dried sticky fruits and a hint of oakiness with a nice juicy bite from the hops. It's quite sweet initially, with a flood of hop bitterness swooping in to whisk away the sweetness and exiting with a nice bright, mildly bitter and somewhat dry, puckery finish. Invites another sip, though I fear the overall flavors may start to be a tad cloying.

M: Thin and silky, with very low carbonation. Not really watery per se, but there's not much body in terms of thickness. Silky and smooth and light, but somehow still manages a certain richness. I think the low carbonation is intentional here as it compliments the maltiness, though we're certainly more accustomed to some more bubbles in our DIPAs.

D: Incredibly deceptive with its 9.2% ABV. The alcohol is noticeable in the beer, but more or less as just another flavor component. Very smooth. It would be too easy to knock back 2 or 3 of these and realize the room is spinning. The bitterness has weight but doesn't linger, making this a highly quaffable brew indeed.

Certainly a standout DIPA in my experience, for different reasons. It's very unique in its malt-forwardness (and therefore, balance) but is certainly not lacking in the hop department. It reminds me a little bit of DFH Burton Baton in its deep malt quality (the flavors are quite similar), though the hops in Hardcore are fresher and more striking. I'll be keeping an eye out for other BrewDog offerings in my area as this is the first time I've seen any in the flesh, and is certainly tasty enough to warrant some more investigation into the rest of their lineup.

Appearance: Pours a really dark, hazy amber color. Great big off-white head has excellent retention and great lacing. Totally hardcore!

Smell: Has a pretty heavy aroma with quite a bit of really dark malt aroma and some dank earthiness. But fear not, there's also some definite hop presence in there too.

Taste: Up-front there's lots of spice and malt flavors. Hoppy flavors come in quickly, but fairly nicely balanced. A fair amount of bitterness is present. There's a flavor here that I've noticed in most BrewDog beers - I suppose it is a product of the alcohol content - a sort of sweetness that ends by sending some mild chills through the body. Leaves a fairly alcohol-based aftertaste, but not without hop bitterness.

Drinkability: The taste (with that distinct BrewDog flavor) gets a bit much after a while, and the alcohol hits home quick.

BrewDog does some nice beers, but I feel like I've tasted them before! A lot of the base flavor here I've tasted in their other beers. There's some great elements here, but I feel that it lacks its own identity - and that it tries to be a bit too strong in the alcohol department without needing to be.

650ml bomber (Batch 071, Best before 72-04-11, drank on 16 Mar 2011) into Duvel tulip. 2 finger beige to tan very small bubbled foamy-looking head. Big patches of foam left as drank down. Came out of the bottle a very murky dull amber color, cloudy looking. Very hazy and unappealing in looks, kinda yucky, was this mishandled?

Aroma of pineapple, peach, tangerine, grapefruit -- very fruity and a hint of earthy floralness and some alcohol too.

Taste is malty in the beginning, a bit of butterscotch, caramel, a light sweetness. Then bitterness gently rises with a grapefruit rind taste, followed by tropical fruit - guava and papaya - on the sweetish finish. A raw flour taste and salty minerality that lasts into the aftertaste, the flour not being very appealing. Some alcohol in the back of the mouth and nose but not too much.

Moderate to lowish carbonation, a bit of a creamy heavy mouthfeel, but also a bit gritty too, weird.

Great name and label graphics, but the beer itself was disappointing. Not totally sure that this was a well handled bottle that made it overseas through a distributor and then to the store intact? Plenty of other DIPAs round these parts that are much better value for the money. This was almost a drainpour.

S: Not really sure if I can pinpoint what's overpowering in the nose here. But something is. Just checked another review - PINEAPPLE! That's what it is. Totally pineapple. How unique! I don't think I've ever smelled pineapple in beer before. Let alone it being the most prevalent smell. Alcohol is definitely present here.

T: Not nearly as pineapple forward as the smell. I was worried, but all for not. This is tasty. Hop oils are prevalent here with sweet malt finish. Alcohol is really well hidden.

M: Light, bubbly. Not very heavy at all.

O: Wow, this one caught me by surprise. At 9.2%, you have to be careful not to have too many in one sitting but I could definitely pop a couple of these.

Beer is a dark orange/copper color. About a fingers worth of off-white head. Nothing really standing out in appearance.

S.

A little more malt dominant than hops. A caramel malt aroma with smalller smells of flowery hops. Perhaps some slight citrus in there as well.

T.

Big punch of sweetness and bitterness at the same time. Big caramelly and toasted malts along with the bitterness you'd expect from a DIPA. Kind of weird, but enjoyable. Booze is pretty prevalent in the taste. At 9.2, i guess that's expected.

M.

almost full bodied. Great carbonation. A little syrupy/sticky mouthfeel that has a slight dry finish.

O.

overall a good beer. Was a gift so I didn't lose anything. Doubt I'd seek this out, but a decent beer my first time having any type of BrewDog.

Poured a Murky bronze with orange tints, Foamy off-white head reducing to a film. Aroma doesn't explode out of the glass like other 2IPA's I've had, but still is okay, with caramel, and...can't quite pinpoint what else that is. A little disappointing in the Aroma.The flavor is no let down, though. Sweet malt, hops and fruit all combine perfectly. The balance between sweetness and bitterness here is just flawless. Bittersweet, but smooth with lots of resiny hops. Long somewhat citrusy finish. The only down side other than the aroma may be by the time I finished it, it seemed a little to resinous or cloying. But still a mighty fine 2IPA. Thanx goes to D. Kurtz

Wow... This is my first Brew Dog beer ever, and I must say that I am already a huge fan! Batch: 395 (best before 12/27/2011)

Brew pours quite well. It has a nice, clear caramel look to it and is well carbonated.

Smell is great. Sweet, caramel and malt notes are everywhere.

Taste is excellent! Complex caramel and malt flavor mixed with a nice hops bite to it. The hops aren't too aggressive, but they aren't too rounded off either. It's nice balance that gives you the bitter taste without it dominating flavor. Mouthfeel is extremely full the entire time.

I'm impressed. This brewery puts out kind of a punk feel on their bottles, and they know how to brew a beer with character. Definitely be getting this again along with some of their other brews!

Smells very hoppy for lack of a better word. It is floral, bitter smelling, citrussy, sweet and slightly bubblegummy. It reminds me of a Smuttynose.

Very bitter on the first touch. It quickly transforms into a barley wine-esque brew that is rich in malt character. It's very British tasting on the grain, almost peat-smoky, and the hops are not knock-over hops but just straight up hops. I like it.

Mouthfeel is a bit chewy, some of that comes with the style, but some of this one is just chewy.

Drinkability, not so much. It's a sipper and would be enjoyable with equally harsh foods, but it is pretty harsh.

Batch #174, Best Before 7-26-11. 11.2oz bottle poured into a standard pint glass. Pours your typical burnt orange, pretty hazy, nice creamy white head and very sticky lacing. Looks very good! Lots of fruits, pine, and resin up front. This isn't your "tropical" DIPA. I can taste lots of orange, clementines, and pine. There's a slight woodsiness to it w/ some more resin. Tastes good, but nothing new. There's a bit of maltiness to this one. Mouthfeel is nice, well carbonated, smooth and creamy; full-bodied. Finishes slightly warm. For being full-bodied, this drinks pretty well. It's very easy to go through this beer. The alcohol isn't really noticable. Pretty easy-drinking DIPA. My biggest gripe is it tastes like alot of DIPAs I've had in the past, doesn't stand out. Reguardless, it's good.

This is a pretty good DIPA. Maybe the flavors aren't out of the ordinary, but they're good enough and it's well crafted.

T - Taste is fairly balanced with a warm, toasty caramel malt tingling the tip of the tongue up front followed by a musty, pungent hop character with pine, mild grapefruit, and a slight floral flavor. The overall palette is moderate and not as forward as some other big IPA's. There is some alcohol warming with this beer.

M - Very gentle on the tongue, lighter side of medium body, a little bit watery in a sugary kind of way.

D - Good.

This is a good beer but there's others in this category I prefer more. Still, worth seeking out.

My wife bought me a bottle of this for Valentine's Day (how about that?!). Normally, this isn't a beer that I would buy as I have avoided the style lately. However, I was surprised by such a delicious, and well-crafted, beer.

Beer poured a cloudy dark blonde with a one inch head. It laced nicely around the glass as I drank it. It took me a long time to drink this and I was amazed at how the head managed to stick around.

The beer smelled of sweet citrus. I could make out a little pine in there too.

The taste?! Oh man! I really enjoyed it. It had hints of citrus and a nice hop presence. It tastes like a really good homebrew should.The type of homebrew that just piles in the hops. That maybe shouldn't come as a surprise. The blurb on the side proports this to be a small brewery. I probably won't ever find out because I don't have the money to visit Scotland anytime in the near future.

You can clearly taste the hops with a hint of pine that compliments it nicely. Little bitter, but the perfect bitterness for the style.

For a 9.2 IPA, I was very surpised at how drinkable it is. It didn't burn going down and at the end I lamented how I did not have another.

A clear but dark mahogany copper color with a whispy off-white colored head and nice lacing. The aroma is a beautiful sweet pine and floral blend and maybe a touch oaky. The flavor makes a bold earthy pine hop statement. It's sort of a syrupy peat, grainy idea yet thick with a near cloying floral edge. It's also nearly full bodied with a little alcohol presence. It has medium carbonation, smooth but alive and a fairly drinkable brew for the style. Very much recommended.

Up for review is a bottle of Hardcore IPA from Brewdog. These guys are crazy! Right? Poured at cellar temp into a pint glass. Seems a bit weak and stale for an IPA. But I guess that happens when you send IPA's over seas instead of your cool barrel aged beers. Go get some, try it for yourself.

Pours a decent orange colour with good head and exceedingly resilient lacing. The lacing is very nice and forms all sorts of patterns on the glass. 4.5

S: A sort of funky burnt malt smell assails the nose initially. Caramel. This beer has seemed very malt-forward to me both on tap and in the bottle. Fresh bottle too, expires on the 10th of the 8th, almost seven months away. As the beer warms and opens up I get some more coffee-ish umami smells from it. Definite pineapple in the nose. Bit of pine subdued by some maltiness. 4

T: Hops are more prominent in the taste. As well as some pleasant honeyish malt there's some floral notes and some sort of flowery citrus fruit taste. The alcohol is detectable but actually very well integrated with the overall flavour. There is a vaguely unpleasant aftertaste which may come from impurities in the serving vessel or being served too cold or simply a fault in the brewing process. I'm not sure what the cause is. The honey-maltishness gets particularly pleasant later on. Quite sweet initially, but bitter enough as it goes down to make one want more. Fruity ice blocks are also present in the taste. 4

M: Thick and pretty hard to complain about for the style. 4

D: Expensive but worth it. I'd only have one a night though. 4

Goes very well with rich meat dishes- especially the rich malty hoppy finish. Would readily drink this beer any time (especially if it were more affordable), but I still get the feeling I'm yet to find my holy grail of IPAs/DIPAs.

Edit: bumping up the ratings cause it's such amazing stuff. I gladly pay through the nose for this beer because it's the only good DIPA you can buy off the shelves in Australia. When will Australian brewers learn how to make good beers?

Bottle cracked open to the tune of Motown hits.. A little cloudy with a burst of grapefruit and some harsh bitterness. The flavor is very nice, big citrus with the malt hidden in the background and the alcohol unnoticeable. A little too much harsh bitterness up front, but it mellows out into something beautiful, big, and hoppy. A nice beer from these BrewDog silly folk.

I got this along with 11 other different beers today at Mentor (OH) Savon (go there if you are in the area), this one being the one with the highest hopes pinned on it. Especially after reading the style listed here, I want this to be great. It would be were it not for the dark, bitter, burnt ( but not roastly taste). It still tastes too much like a scottish ale and it is missing that american over the top floral hops taste.

That said, it's still good, and I would only refuse one if I had already completed a few. It is strong.

Though not clear in the glass, it is pretty (the sun in shining through mine). The unique aroma doesn't cease to please - nice.

For the price I will probably not look for it often, but it's something I would recommend to anyone and would gladly drink again.

Had this an hour ago on tap. Poured a little hazy, looking like cider. The head was a little weak, but i never know if it's a bad pour or the beer itself. Everything after this was stellar. Smell, taste, alcohol warmth. Loved every drop and would look for it again.